Crenk » downloads

Farkie: Download YouTube Videos for Free

Steven Finch — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 08:36:05 +0000

Have you ever wanted to simply download the videos straight from YouTube, well now you can do that with Farkie. Farkie is a simple tool that allows any user to simply type in a url and then Farkie will download the files associated with that url.

Steps are as follows:

Head to Farkie.com
Type in the URL of the video, music or file you want to download
Farkie will then give you an option to convert into a specific format
Choose your format and download
DONE!

Farkie is a great tool, but it is obviously being used to download copyrighted material, so im not too sure how long it will be available online. So make sure you head over and use it while you can.

Apple App Store Hits 1 Billion Downloads

Steven Finch — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:01:25 +0000

Apple hits 1 Billion downloads from their App Store! Since launching the App store on the 27 th June last year, Apple has been making big waves with their iPhone and iPod Touch products. Apple currently pays 70% of all revenues from the App store to developers. Thus, if there was an average of $0.50 per download, then Apple would be $150m richer and App developers $350m richer.

Dell Download Store Launches With Games, Music and Software at Great Prices

Steven Finch — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:49:50 +0000

Dell has finally launched their new download store. Dell has partnered with French company Nexway to release the download store which offers music, games and software. The Dell download store allows all worldwide users to purchase games and software, but there currently is a restriction on music because of “publishing and licencing agreements with [Dell's] digital music partners.”

The music files will be available from major labels and will include leading artists, all without digital right managements solutions as MP3 files.

The store currently sells the Brit Awards 2009 for £9.99; both Play.com and Amazon did not have the album available for digital download.

Single tracks are available for 79 pence but the user interface lacks the intuitiveness of other available solutions like 7digital.

Windows 7 Free Downloadable Wallpapers

Steven Finch — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:49:07 +0000

Windows 7 is the new operating system that Microsoft will be releasing officially in early 2010. However, some users have been able to download Windows 7 for free via the Microsoft website. Thus, I though we would let everyone know about some free Windows 7 wallpapers they can download. These are
high resolution
wallpapers created at Devianart. All credits to creators and owners of the images.

Click on the images to Download them (from Author’s site).

Top 10 Adsense Optimized Wordpress Themes

Steven Finch — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:36:28 +0000

There are so many publishers out there that are just learning what Wordpress is and how they can actually make money from blogging. The easiest advertising network to join is Adsense from Google. Adsense provides users the ability to earn money every time one of their readers clicks on an ad. Recently I was looking through free Wordpress themes in search of the most basic template I could find which have adsense blocks as standard and in which optimise those positions to bring in the most revenues for the blogger. After all my searching I thought I might even compile a list of ten themes that I think everyone should use when they are first starting to blog on Wordpress.

1. ProSense | Download Prosense | ProSense Gray | ProSense Blue

2. AdSense Theme | Download

3. Problogger Clean | Download

4. SEO Blix with AdSense | Download

5. Ads Minded | Download

6. Connections with Adsense | Download

7. MW | Download

8. Adsense Ready | Download

9. Boqpod Adsense | Download

10. Tigopedia 1.0 | Download

Apple Hits The 500 Million Download Mark for Apps Store

Steven Finch — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:24:36 +0000

Apple has announced today that they have reached the 500 million download mark for iPhone / iPod Touch applications from their appstore.

It has been reported by Mashable and TheNextWeb that the 300 million download happened on December 5th, thus more than 200 million downloads have happened in the last 5 weeks. For Apple these are some very impressive stats and it just shows their push just within iTunes. Currently their are approximately 15,000 apps available in the Apple App Store, and im sure this will rise very quickly. Compare the App Store success to iTunes when it first began, because iTunes took almost two years to hit the 500 million download mark.

AppShopper: The Best iPhone and iPod Touch Applications Directory in Town

Steven Finch — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:22:25 +0000

Apple iTunes has always been so popular and with the launch of the iPhone iTunes has gone to the next level. Every single day Apple sells millions of dollars in the iTunes store just for iPhone applications. With so many applications being launched everyday how do you keep up? Additionally, I have always wondering how much money these applications are making developers and which applications are actually popular.

Today I stumbled across a great new site called AppShopper. AppShopper is a huge directory of all iPhone and iPod Touch applications and allows users to search through apps, find out how much they cost, and find out which applications are actually selling.

Additionally on the AppShopper blog they have great insights into applications within the app store and also all kinda of application related news there is. So if you are looking to easily find applications within the App Store, dont head over to iTunes itself, head to AppShopper.

Amazon Mp3 Store Launches For UK Market

Steven Finch — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:19:48 +0000

Amazon has just launched their Mp3 Music store in the UK. The store can be found at http://mp3.amazon.co.uk. The simple-to-use digital music store offering over 3 million DRM-free (Digital Rights Management) songs which will work on any MP3 player including the iPod™- with top-selling albums from just £3 and individual songs from 59p.

Amazon Mp3 UK has all four major labels signed up, SonyBMG, Universal Music, EMI Music and Warner Music – and leading independents such as Cooking Vinyl, Harmonia Mundi, Beggars Banquet, The Orchard, Concord and IODA.

Greg Greeley, Vice-President of Amazon EU Retail said: “We’re excited to provide our UK customers with more ways to discover and enjoy great music. In addition to the millions of low-priced CDs available in our music store, Amazon MP3 now provides a vast selection of DRM-free albums and songs across every genre you can think of, ready to enjoy in seconds”.

The New AllofMp3 is AllofMp3Download.com

Steven Finch — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:01:38 +0000

I got a very interesting email this morning from an unknown Czech email address. It was to showcase a new site just launching called Allofmp3Download.com. Now doesn’t this site sound very familiar. Mid way through 2007 a site called Allofmp3 was shut down by the Russian government. Pressure from the United States, and a refusal to enter the World Trade Organisation (WTO) convinced the Kremlin to take the website down for good.

This new site Allofmp3download.com sounds very much like it is coming from the same source. It has the exact same characteristics as Allofmp3, but seem to be selling very cheap music video downloads instead of the basic mp3s. I’m guessing it will only be a matter of time before this new site is shutdown, so if you are after cheap music videos then make sure you head over to Allofmp3download now.

There are also other alternative sites that seem to be offering a similar service as the old Allofmp3.

MP3 Search carry in excess of 50,000 albums from 46,000 artists. Prices start at $0.19 per track. Most tracks are in high quality bitrate, 320 kbps. The site accepts major credit cards.

MP3 Fiesta hold nearly 67,000 albums from nearly 17,000 artists. Prices are around the $0.10 mark for single tracks with full albums coming in at roughly $1.00. Tracks are available from 192kbps and they take major credit cards.

Another allofmp3 replacement, LegalSounds.com prices are $0.09 per song, full album downloads average $1 each. Music carried includes the US Top 100 Albums/Singles, European Top 100 Albums and UK Top 50. Tracks are available between 192kbps and 320kbps and they take major credit cards.

Just Music carry around 160,000 albums from 44,000 different artists. Prices vary according to the amount of credit you apply to your account and range between $0.11 and $0.15 per track. Tracks are available at 192kbps and they take major credit cards and PayPal.

GoMusic claim to carry over 35,000 tracks. Prices are $0.19 per track and around $2 per full album. Tracks are available in various bitrates and they take major credit cards.

MP3 Skyline appears to be offering a huge amount of music. The site claims a staggering 2.2 million tracks available from over 128,000 artists. Prices are around the $0.35 mark for single tracks and encoded at 192kbps. Major credit cards and PayPal are accepted, along with other payment options. They also have a free download of the day, currently ‘Seeing Red’ by Killing Joke.

MP3 Sale boasts a cataolgue of over 90,000 albums from 23,556 artists. Prices are $0.15 for a single track with full albums around the $1.50 mark. Tracks are encoded at 192kbps and the site takes all major credit cards, PayPal and a wide range of other payment options.

iSound currently offer nearly 60,000 albums from 14,000 artists. Prices start at $0.11 per track up to a maximum of $0.15, depending on the amount of credit deposited in your account. Tracks are encoded at a minimum of 192kbps. Major credit cards and PayPal are accepted.

Top 6 Dark Firefox 3 Themes You Should Download Now

Steven Finch — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:56:59 +0000

If you are someone who loves a great dark Firefox 3 theme, then here is a amazing list for you. Mozillalinks has put together have put together a list of 6 great Firefox 3 themes you should download right now.

avant.garde.10011:nerom created by Rob Holian. (experimental)

Black Steel by Ben Griscom. (experimental)

Dark Revisited by Matthew Baerbock. (experimental)

Gradient iCool by Edward Mak.

Midnight Fox by TwisterMC.

Ruler Dark by dkgo. (experimental)

We7: The New Ad-Supported Music Destination On The Rise

Steven Finch — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:41:50 +0000

We7 is one of the new kids on the block in the music industry. On We7 you can find artists from all over the world, signed and unsigned. With the majority of artists you are able to listen to the tracks on their albums, as well as add them to a play list. Additionally, tracks can be purchased via iTunes.

We7 is mainly an ad supported streaming platform, in which artists receive their royalties from a percentage of the advertising revenues and then hopefully more from purchases via iTunes. We7 keeps the other cut of the advertising revenues for providing the platform, as well as getting a percentage from iTunes affiliate sales.

We7 has a catalog that is growing rapidly and they seem to have a few majors already on board. I would like to see a better design that takes up the majority of the page on a fluid layout, instead of just the current fixed layout. This will also allow them to strategically place their advertising banners, which is their key business model. We7 however is definitely worth checking out if you are look to stream some of the best albums from the biggest artists, from anyone in the world.

On Stage Free Vector PSD Icon Set. Direct from Smashing Magazine

Steven Finch — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:58:13 +0000

Smashing Magazine has just released On Stage icon set. The set contains 49 free vector icons including PSD which can be useful for both corporate and personal setting. You can use the set for free without any restrictions whatsoever.

The icons are available in the .png-format in the resolution 128×128px. 100% pure shape-based layered PSDs are also included in the package.

Download: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/08/27/on-stage-a-free-icon-set/

Firefox 3 Breaks The World Record For The Most Downloads In a Day

Steven Finch — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:54:26 +0000

It looks like FireFox’s campaign to get the most software downloads in 24 hours has worked. They now have an announcement on their website saying :

Thanks to the support of the always amazing Mozilla community, we now hold a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. From 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008, 8,002,530 people downloaded Firefox 3 and are now enjoying a safer, smarter and better Web.

I still find it quite amazing that their servers could handle all of those downloads in one single day. Well lets not forget that there were some major issues when the day started because it was really difficult to actually get the download from the sites.

Grooveshark Lite – Search, Listen, and Purchase MP3’s

Abdylas Tynyshov — Fri, 09 May 2008 08:08:18 +0000

GroovesharkLite is a self-contained flash based application which lets you search, listen and purchase mp3’s online. It has a library of over 6 Million songs covering everything from tiny Indies to all the Majors.

It’s a peer to peer music service in the same vein as Limewire, which also allows users to stream and purchase songs.

Users are not required to register or login to their account in order to search and play songs. You are only required to login to your account when you want to purchase a particular mp3. Otherwise you are free listen to songs as much as you want.

You can also get free mp3’s with GroovesharkLite, for example if someone purchases a song that you seed, you would receive a credit that can be used to purchase more songs from the network.

Check it out: http://listen.grooveshark.com

RouteNote Launches into Public Beta!

Steven Finch — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:00:34 +0000

Crenk has long been a part of the Insomnia Media Group, which today is launching our music initiative.

RouteNote is a user driven music distribution service, allowing indie artists to get access to major online retailers and make their music available to film, radio and other media producers for quick, easy licensing.

The site is launching into public beta which involves our distribution section. Distribution through RouteNote will allow unsigned artists and independent labels from all over the world to sell their music in some of the worlds largest online stores. RouteNote is a completely non-exclusive music distributor that has some of the best rates in the industry. Artists are able to sign up for FREE, uploading as many tracks as they would like and being able to keep 90% of the revenues from download sales.

What RouteNote offers:

Retain 100% Ownership of your tracks
Non-exclusive
Worldwide Exposure
No Signup Fees
Receive 90% from all download sales
It wont stop you from signing up to a record label in the future
Forward looking partnerships and marketing expertise

RouteNote is a unique service that can help hundreds of thousands of artists all over the world. So why not signup today.

Stay tuned for more features to also launch over time.

Myspace Music To Compete Directly with iTunes

Steven Finch — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:22:03 +0000

Here at Crenk we have already reported about Myspace and their new music offering several times. It seems now that the launch is imminent. The LA Times has reported that Myspace will be launching their music offering as early as tomorrow. The new service will compete directly with iTunes and will be offering music downloads, streams, videos and mobile phone ring tones, along with related items, such as merchandise and concert tickets.

Stay tuned for more coverage about the launch in coming days.

Amie Street Sign Beggars Group Which Brings 15,000 Tracks to Their Catalog

Steven Finch — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:49:11 +0000

Amie Street have just announced today that they have signed the Beggars Group to their service. The Beggars Group consists of labels such as XL, Rough Trade, 4AD, Matador Records and Polyvinyl Recording Co. This means a further 15,000 tracks to the Amie Street catalog.

As most of you already know Amie Street is a music download site that has been funded by the likes of Amazon. This is due to their unique pricing model. All tracks in their catalog start of at being a free download and once the popularity of a certain track increases, then so does the price accordingly. Tracks are finally capped at $0.98 per download.Â However, one of the most important selling points for the consumer is that the Amie Street tracks are totally DRM free Mp3s.

Napster Listens To My Predictions

Steven Finch — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 21:55:27 +0000

I made my prections for 2008 about 2 weeks ago and already Napster seems to have listened to me and they are now more open to DRM free solutions. Napster just announced that they will be abandoning DRM completely in its music download store in the second quarter of this year. Napster will still however apply copyright protection to its subscription service, but when a user purchases an a la carte download the files will no longer be in DRM WMA format, but in Mp3 format.

This is a very positive move for Napster because they are currently in approximately 5th in download store ratings, behind iTunes, eMusic, Amazon and Rhapsody. This move and forward thinking is slowly getting pushed upon online download stores from the major record labels, and it is very refreshing to see Napster is trying to improve their position in the market and jumping on board the DRM free before some of the others.

Music Business Models Will They Change in 2008?

Steven Finch — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 00:56:37 +0000

In the last few days I have been reading some great articles over at RWW on the music industry, where it is headed and how Apple could potentially lose its dominance. These articles have fueled great debates on the RWW site and here is my take on the whole music industry.

Having the Complete Package

Josh wrote a great article at RWW that basically talked about Apple and how they are slowly coming under fire from Amazon and Zune. I think the situation is very straight forward until someone really tries to shake up the market!

Apple currently has 70% of the portable music player market and approx 85% of the music download market. Apple additionally has a very strong brand awareness and loyalty. Apple are very smart at what they do and for companies who only offer part of their package, it will be very difficult for them to compete and actually grab any market presence. Im sure we will see companies like Amazon attempt to attack parts of the music market but if they succeed in any particular area (such as cut pricing of downloads and DRM free downloads), then Apple will just calculate the right times to cover the advances and offer equal services. At the end of the day Apple knows that they have brand loyalty like no other and services such as Amazon Mp3 in the long run will only help them sell more iPods or Macs, because these people who download have to put their music somewhere.

In terms of Zune they have been receiving some good reviews for their new product, however this is Microsoft we are talking about. Microsoft has long been serial monopolists and Zune is not going to change that fact. Apple have of course AAC files that can only be played on iPods and Microsoft have exactly the same with the Zune.

At present no one can challenge Apples dominance and I dont think anyone will challenge them for at least another 5 years. Microsoft with Zune have just launched a product and service exactly the same as Apple did years ago with the iPod and iTunes, there is no difference to me. Amazon however, have launched a service that was need, a service that offers DRM free music not via subscription and via a cut price. Amazon hit a small gap in the market that was needed, but does this mean they will get any where near iTunes? No chance in hell!!

Future of DRM

I predict that 2008 will be the year that all the big 4 (Sony BMG, Universal, Warner and EMI) start selling DRM free music more openly. Amazon has Warner on the books and iTunes has EMI already signed up with Warner to come on board very soon.

In 2007 there have been lots of experiments with the music business model, such as Radiohead and also Amie Street, but have they proved anything? Yes I think they have. The Amie Street business model of offering music low and then prices increase when the track becomes popular has proved so successful that Amazon has bought into the company. Radiohead proved that selling digitally on a website can be just as popular as selling on the huge iTunes.

Conclusions. Overall, I really think customers are willing to pay for good quality music, especially DRM free music that can be transported to any portable music player, but only at the right price! Im still not too sure if we have found the right price yet. This is mainly due to the big 4 wanting to make a good margin on their sales on iTunes, thus prices are currently high. I cant wait to see a service that skips all of the hassels and just offers a simple service that sells good quality mp3s DRM free at a price such as $0.50 per download.

What Needs to Happen to Break the Music Industry

Currently, I am CEO of a company which is entering the music space but focusing on music licensing and distribution. Hypothetically, if I had the resources and money to launch a product in the music industry that would compete with iTunes and Apple, I would do the following.

Digital music downloads need to have a copyright system in place that actually tracks who the music is sold to and if the music is transported between computers or players it just needs to be unlocked via a password or something similar.
Offer a DRM free music store in which the music can be transfered to any portable music player
Offer a reasonable price and optimize the transaction fee the third party takes.
Then offer other vertical services such as videos, games, ebooks and more.
Finally, move into horizontal integration, such as a revolutionary portable music player, online and satellite radio stations and many more ideas.

This is the only way I can see someone breaking the Apple dominance and taking at least some share of the music market. If you are a VC and would like to fund my idea, please get in touch with me! haha. I love a challenge!

Grooveshark With An Idea I Think Just Wont Work!

Steven Finch — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:24:30 +0000

P2P music sharing and sales service Grooveshark has raised their level of compensation for sharing music from 10 cents to 25 cents a track, their entire profit on each sale. Users upload their music to Grooveshark, and any member can listen to those tracks for free. If they want to download a song, they can purchase it DRM free and the user who uploaded the song gets a cut of the sale; previously this was 10c and now its 25c. The remainer of the 99c sale goes to the record companies; the service is legal and Grooveshark has agreements with the record companies to provide the service and to cover copyright obligations.

I dont see how this program can actually succeed! I really need someone from Grooveshark to explain to me the finer details. As far as i know it runs the same as any other P2P, where companies and users each run their files from a folder on their computer and thus allowing other users to purchase audio tracks, movies, etc. How is Grooveshark going to monitor copyrights on songs for example, because i know a lot of people out there have illegally downloaded songs on their computer and if they are in the same folder that Grooveshark is using how will they track it all and keep control? Especially also considering a user could change the name of the songs in their folder and then make it more suceptable to being accepted at owning a copyright.

Finally, why would i want to purchase from a P2P network when currently I can head over to LimeWire and get it all for nothing??

Starbucks To Give Away Free Downloads

Steven Finch — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:13:46 +0000

Starbucks said it will be giving away millions of songs via download on iTunes. It is reported that more than 10,000 US Starbucks locations will be participating in the give away, which will be running from October 2 to November 7. Customers can receive “Song of the Day” cards redeemable on Apple’s iTunes store for a complimentary song selected by Starbucks. Starbucks said it will give away 1.5 million downloads per day for a total of more than 50 million free songs. Customers will have until the end of the year to redeem the song on iTunes.